Dessert Island #4 Live at Folsom Prison

I hate country music. I have always tried to stay open minded about it, but the guy in the pickup truck with the flannel shirt singing soft-rock with cheesy metaphors has always been wrong no matter how I look at it. It wasn’t until 2002 that I heard Johnny Cash and the way country music used to be.

Cash’s Folsom Prison album is totally captivating, and way different than any live album I have ever heard before. He’s in a prison, you hear the men laughing, moving chairs and clapping. It’s obviously a major highlight in their dreary prisoner lives. Everything from Johnny’s sense of humor, to the songs he plays to his banter is so welcoming. It’s hard to put into words.

Why is it on my top5?This is also not my typical kind of music, but everyone needs change now and then. This album is very light hearted, and if I was stranded on an island I might need that.

This album always makes me remember one muggy garage sale day. I bought a collection of 600 crappy country music records for $20 to hopfully find the LP that belonged in the Folsom Prison sleeve I had found. It wasn’t there. I later bought the record for a dollar from a friend.